Development of anti-HTLV-1 therapies towards active interventions for high-risk carriers

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K08439
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Experimental pathology
• Research Institution: National Institute of Infectious Diseases
• Principal Investigator: OKUMA Kazu 国立感染症研究所, 血液・安全性研究部, 室長 (80315085)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: HTLV-1感染 / HTLV-1感染細胞 / 治療法開発 / 組換えタンパク質治療薬 / 組換えウイルス治療薬 / ヒト化マウス感染モデル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, to establish antiviral therapies against human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) infection for HTLV-1-infected individuals (carriers), we developed two candidate drugs that can eliminate HTLV-1 by targeting and killing HTLV-1-infected cells: "a recombinant protein", truncated Pseudomonas exotoxin fused to CCL17 (a CCR4 ligand) to target CCR4 frequently expressed on HTLV-1-infected cells, and "a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus" lacking the G gene and instead encoding HTLV-1 receptor, neuropilin 1, to target HTLV-1 envelope protein specifically expressed on HTLV-1-infected cells. We tested whether these candidate drugs selectively eliminated such infected cells, leading to the control of HTLV-1 infection in vitro and in vivo. Our present findings strongly indicated the therapeutic potential of these candidate anti-HTLV-1 drugs.

Free Research Field

ウイルス学、実験動物学